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Poland

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Cultures

Languages:
1. Polish - 98%
2. Other - 2%

Religion:
1. Roman Catholic
2. Eastern Orthodox

Native Dish:
Name:Bigos
Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 pounds round steak, cut into thin strips on the diagonal
2 onions, cut into 1/3-inch slices
3 teaspoons salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
4 cups water
4 bay leaves
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
4 prunes, pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon honey
2 cloves garlic, halved

Directions:

Cut the beef into slices about 1/3 inch thick. With a meat mallet, hammer all the slices flat until they are 1/3 of their original thickness. Sprinkle each slice generously with salt, pepper, and paprika on one side only. Put 2 or 3 beef slices on a plate, with seasoning side up, and put some onion slices on top. Add layers of beef and onion until all the meat is used up. Wrap the plate with plastic wrap or foil; set aside for 1 hour at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.
Pour water into a Dutch oven and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and add bay leaves.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Separate onions from bitkas. Reserve half of the onions and discard the rest. Fry bitkas 3 at a time for 20 seconds on each side. Transfer fried meat into boiling water.
Chop the reserved onion coarsely. Sauté in the beef drippings over medium heat. Drain, reserving drippings, and add onions along with mushrooms, prunes, honey, and garlic to the meat. Skim fat from drippings and add to the meat.
Transfer the pot to the oven. Roast for 1 hour at 350°F. Turn the heat off, and then let the pot cool down slowly in the oven for approximately 2 hours. Repeat the heating cycle 3 times. After the first 20 minutes in the oven, take the pot out and fish out the mushrooms. Cut into 1/8-inch-wide strips and return to the pot. During heating, take the pot out every 20 minutes and rearrange the bitkas. Make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Check water level. If necessary, add some boiling water. During last heating cycle, check the sauce taste. Season to taste.

One Celebration or Festival:
Constitution Day, 3rd of May (1791)

Literacy Rate:
USA: 97%
Country: 99.8%

Social Customs: Some people who start working after the required schooling marry early. People who go on to college normally don't marry until they are older.

Recreation: Soccer and other sports are popular.

Government

Type: Republic

Leader:
President: Lech Kaczynski
Prime Minister: Jaroslaw Kacznski

Independence:
When: 11th of November, 1918
From whom: Russia

Economics

Monetary Unit: Zloty

Exchange Rate: 3.1032 zloty to the dollar

GDP:
USA: $39,676
Country: $14,400

Major Industries:
1. Machinery
2. Iron\steel production

Major Trading Partner:germany
Imports: Germany 29%
Exports: Germany 27%

Life Expectancy:75.19 years
Men: 71.18 years
Women: 79.44 years

Geography

Climate: cold, cloudy,moderately severe winters, frequent rain fall, mild summers, and frequent showers and thunderstorms.

Natural Resource:
1. Salt
2. Natural gas
3. Coal, sulfur

Physical Features:
1. North Euporean Plain: a flat stretch of land from Germany to Ukraine
2. Forest: a plant covered stretch of land. 25% of Poland is forest.

Environmental Issues: Air and water pollution are problems for Poland because of all the factories,cars and mining (including natural gas).
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